


Choking on the Stems of Love

by Toxictimefanfics



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Post-Endgame, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 15:46:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19379791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toxictimefanfics/pseuds/Toxictimefanfics
Summary: Stephen is a dumbass and gets Hanahaki after he helps save Tony after Endgame.





	Choking on the Stems of Love

Unrequited love is a trivial thing when you put your mind to it, but of course it still exists all the same. It's inevitable that at some point in life you're bound to fall in love with someone who doesn't feel the same way about you.

 

In severe cases of potential unrequited love come piercing thorns, vines, and flowers. Unrequited love comes with Hanahaki. Different flowers resemble different things from life and death to love and jealousy, but when they're growing in one's lungs, the pain's all the same.

 

It's not exactly easy to detect the ailment sure, it comes with quite a nasty cough, but that could be excused as a number of things, that is until the petals come. The delicate omen of pain and suffering would be gorgeous in any other setting, but when they're covered in blood and falling in large wet clumps from someone's mouth, they're more along the lines of horrific.

 

This is what life is for one Stephen Strange, there's a constant pain in his lungs from the sheer amount of flowers that are suffocating him, and for what? Love? Just because he loved someone who would never love him in return, because he fell in love with Tony?

 

He knows exactly when it started, when he saved Tony's life when nobody else could, when he died. Stephen spent two whole weeks making sure he didn't die after the fight with Thanos, a fixated sliver of the time stone is now the primary source of power for the new arc reactor implanted in Tony's chest. When he finally wakes up after being trapped in the astral plane for two weeks, Stephen's ecstatic, but then the coughing starts, and he knows it's only a matter of time before it gets a hell of a lot worse.

 

Tony keeps visiting the sanctum, for one reason or another, he keeps finding excuses to come back. It ranges from wanting to check in, to finding something he deemed as "wizard shit", but more often than not it wasn't even magic, it was just another excuse to drop by. He just didn't realize that every time he came over, it was killing Stephen, oh so slowly.

 

Blue roses, the unattainable, the impossible. Purple Mallow, consumed by love. White Moonflower, dreaming of love. These three flowers have been slowly suffocating Stephen for exactly three months, and soon they're going to kill him, he only has a few days left, they're going to be agony, but he's willing to go through with it. He's ready to die.

 

Wong somehow never found out, which should've been impossible, though it happened anyway. Regardless of the odd circumstances he's locked himself in his room, to ride out the remaining few days in solitude, it's truly for the best in the long run, or so he leads himself to believe.

 

It's the penultimate day of his life when Fate comes knocking at his door, quite literally. He can tell that one of the people outside his door is Tony, judging by how his breathing slows, and his throat constricts as the footsteps grow near.

 

"Stephen, you have a visitor…" comes Wong's voice through the door, he's quiet, it almost makes Stephen rethink his actions, almost.

 

"I know, send him in." Stephen cringes at the rough sound that comes out of his mouth, damn flowers.

 

Tony walked into the room, and immediately regretted it. There, lying on the bed, was the man he recently developed a crush on, and he was going to die. "Stephen, I…"

 

"Save it Stark. I know I look like shit, why are you here?"

 

"I… just wanted to thank you again… for saving my life, before, you know." Shit, there's way too much emotion in his voice, Stephen starts to choke on the flowers in his throat. "Oh God, this is a lot worse than I thought it was. You're going to die soon-"

 

"Tomorrow."

 

Tony froze. Tomorrow, he's going to die tomorrow. God, he has to tell him now.

 

"I… guess I need to tell you something then."

 

"Oh? Do tell."

 

"I really like you."

 

"I'd assume so, we are technically friends."

 

"Not like that, asshole!"

 

"Oh…" Stephen somehow hadn't realized he could breathe again. "I guess I'm not dying anymore."

 

"You're  _ what? _ "

 

"It was you, I guess you got your chance to save me in return." He smirked while sitting up, something he hadn't done in nearly a week.

 

"I did that to you? Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

 

"I didn't hear anything of your relationship with Pepper after we replaced your arm," Tony moved his fairly new robotic right arm, causing it to whir slightly, "I figured you were still together."

 

"Oh… no, she left after I woke up, she told me she couldn't deal with me risking my life anymore."

 

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm a reckless piece of shit too, so there's nothing to worry about."

 

"Are you fucking kidding? You were going to die tomorrow, I could've cured you months ago!"

 

"Can I make it up to you?"

 

"How do you plan on doing that-" Tony was cut off by Stephen's lips pressing against his. Everything is going to be alright now, they'll make sure of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I have a discord! Please join me! We have like... Two actually active people other than myself. https://discord.gg/dNrb37M


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